Working Together to Eliminate Health Inequities and Disparities

Nearly 1 in 5 children lack access to nutritious food in Dane County, a number that is nearly double the statewide rate and indicates the high need for food access interventions. Children are at an increased risk for learning loss and food insecurity during the summer months, especially low-income youth and youth of color. Summer programming that combines enrichment with good nutrition can help address these issues. The REAP Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) Expansion initiative was designed to implement and evaluate best practices for increasing participation in the SFSP. REAP is applying critical analysis to its past implementation and evaluation activities to ensure that it can continue to offer fun, interactive, substantive educational activities during the summer school break that will reach as many food-insecure youth as possible. Evaluation results showed an overwhelmingly positive response to the program among both adults and children. Public awareness, families fed, and locally-sourced produce increased across the city through marketing and promotion efforts that REAP coordinated, which will be funded in part by the City of Madison moving forward. This project led to significant outcomes that demonstrated a potentially replicable model based on best practices for summer food programming and solid recommendations to further strengthen outcomes of this program.